


Water, Water Everywhere (The Albatross Remix)

by theladyscribe



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Remix, Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-12-25 05:51:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12029505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe
Summary: When you grow up in a desert, you learn not to take water for granted.





	Water, Water Everywhere (The Albatross Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Redrikki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Not a Drop to Drink](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5717059) by [Redrikki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki). 



> I've played a bit fast and loose with the timeline and geography of the original trilogy, but hey, it's a remix.
> 
> Many thanks to Redrikki for giving me such great material to work with. I hope you like what I did with it.
> 
> Thanks also to my beta for the quick turnaround.
> 
> Title is from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

When you grow up in a desert, you learn not to take water for granted. You learn to savor every drop, you learn to hoard it carefully, you learn that some things are worth more than money. You learn that he who holds the water holds the power.

Water is life, and life is precious, as hard to hold onto as the grains of sand that are the landscape of Tatooine.

Anyone who lives out in the desert, beyond Tosche Station, knows, if you leave your house, you always take an extra canteen with you. As Uncle Owen is fond of reminding Luke, you never know when a sandstorm may blow in, leaving you turned around, lost, until the wind dies down and you can triangulate between the twin suns of Tatooine. You never know when you might come upon a stranger in need of a drink. You never know what a stranger might offer you in exchange for quenching their thirst.

When Luke leaves the moisture farm, after Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru have been murdered, he remembers to take his spare canteen, the one he keeps by his bed, just in case. He doesn't know much about the hermit Kenobi, but he knows his home is far enough away that he'll need water to get there.

*

Luke experiences a rain storm for the first time at the age of twenty. He doesn't know what it is at first, the fat drops falling from the sky like the precious condensation he and Aunt Beru used to collect off the generator on the farm. It starts slowly, a splash on the ground here, a plink on the hood of a transporter there, a smattering of droplets in the dirt. There's a flash of light and a crashing noise like the rumble of a ship, and suddenly, like magic, a deluge.

Luke knows he must look like the country bumpkin he is, staring up into the sky as the rain pours and the rest of the rebel brigade around him takes cover, escaping the torrents by ducking under the waxed awnings of their tents.

"Luke!" Leia calls, sounding garbled as the wind picks up and the rain blows around them. "You'll catch your death out there!"

Luke can't help it; he laughs at the thought.

*

The swamp of Dagobah is the first time Luke learns to fear water. Growing up in a place where water is precious, where there is so little of it but every drop is sweet, Luke has never known to fear it, never known the dangers of water with unknown currents.

He explores the swamplands while Yoda sleeps, stumbling through knee-deep water, his feet slipping on smooth stones. He finds a waterfall that empties into a deep and surprisingly clear pool. He can see the bottom and the burra fish swimming in it.

Luke doesn't know how to swim, but he thinks this pool would be the perfect place to learn. He strips out of his clothes and hangs them on a low branch, hoping they might dry out a bit while he's in the water.

He wades waist-deep into the pool, takes another step, and finds himself suddenly underwater, the bottom too deep for his feet to touch. The current sweeps him downstream, and it feels like an eternity before his toes drag in the sand again.

Luke pushes off the sandy bottom, and gets his head above water, gasping for air. He puts his arms out, grasping at rocks and branches along the stream, his shoulder twinging when he finally gets purchase and the current tries to keep him moving. He scrambles out of the water, chest heaving as he coughs up water. He sits on a rock and waits for his breath to even out before he follows the stream back to the pool to fetch his clothes.

When he gets back to Yoda's hut that evening, the Jedi master eyes him speculatively, as if he knows Luke nearly drowned today.

"Dangerous to swim against, currents can be," he says. "But more dangerous to swim with currents you do not know, it is."

*

As soon as Ben is old enough, Luke enlists a recruit from Yavin 4 to teach him to swim properly. He clears it with Leia and Han first, of course, but he wants to make sure that Ben will swim rather than sink, that he'll never have to fear being in over his head.

It turns out to be unnecessary; Ben is completely fearless in a way neither Luke nor Leia had the luxury to be. Luke would be envious if he weren't so happy that his nephew can grow up in a world where he doesn't know fear.

Later, Luke will wish that he had instilled at least a little bit of fear in Ben. By the time he realizes it, it is much too late.

*

After. After everything, Luke cannot look his sister in the eye. He is ashamed. It is his hubris, his certainty, that has brought them ruin, not the external pressures of the Sith or the Dark Side or the Empire.

He is ashamed, and he cannot look his sister in the eye, because he knows he will see her pity and her forgiveness there. Luke cannot accept her forgiveness when he cannot forgive himself.

He leaves D'Qar, taking nothing but his cloak and a ship. R2 means to go with him, but Luke sneaks away in the dead of night, unable to bring himself to say goodbye.

He doesn't have a destination in mind, letting the Force guide him and his ship where it will.

When he reaches Ahch-To, Luke knows this is where he is supposed to be, where the Force has been leading him since he left D'Qar. It's a water planet; what little land is visible is all rocky outcroppings, islands that cut jagged teeth between the ocean and the sky.

He directs his ship toward one of the largest islands and is surprised to find that it isn't merely a rocky crag. There are telltale signs of a lost civilization here: smooth paving stones, the ruins of a wall, a dock with crumbling steps leading up the cliff.

Luke guides his ship to the dock. He grabs a knapsack and a phaser and cautiously climbs out of the cockpit.

There's a distinct smell of brine in the air, the salt of the water so heavy that Luke can practically taste it on his tongue. The world is quiet save for the sound of the water lapping against the stones of the dock. Luke makes his way to the path up the promontory.

Despite the silence, the planet doesn't feel still. There is a presence here — no, multiple presences, as if he is surrounded by the spirits of those who came before him. It reminds him of his time on Dagobah, of his visions of Obi-Wan and his father, but heavier.

It isn't frightening, though. If anything, it's a comfort, a sense, perhaps, of coming home.

*

The girl comes to him with a droid and a Wookie in tow. There is anger in her, and fear, the sort that you have when your life has been turned inside out.

There was anger in Ben, too, but it was borne of the expectations of those around him. This girl — Rey — her anger is different. It isn't the bitter, curdled anger that haunts the Skywalker clan. It is fierce, but it is focused, something Luke thinks he can work with.

When she makes it to the top of the island, to where the Jedi temple once stood, she offers Luke his old lightsabre.

He doesn't take it.

Instead, he holds out his hand and offers her his canteen.

*

When you grow up in a desert, you learn not to take water for granted.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Water, Water Everywhere (The Albatross Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13100574) by [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins), [theladyscribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe)




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